The Cafe on the Edge of Armageddon
by Drauchenfyre
Summary: UP FOR ADOPTION! After centuries of battle, Tom and Harry strike on a crazy solution to their seeming immortality...


**The Cafe on the Edge of Armageddon**

A Harry Potter Fanfiction

by Drauchenfyre

_Location: The Former Site of Paris_

_Time: Around Midday_

_Year: Somewhere Between AD 2600 and AD 2750_

"You ever wonder what would have happened if the Prophecy hadn't existed?"

Tom Riddle looked up, startled, at his dining companion. Both men still appeared in their mid-to-late 20's, though they were both aware they were centuries old. Somewhere along the way, one of Tom's regenerations had reverted him to his handsome, charismatic, non-mutant-snake form from when he was still mortal. Of course, when the only other person left on Earth was a man who had hated you for centuries by then, that didn't exactly beef up his dating options.

For nearly 400 years, Tom Riddle and his dining companion, Harry Potter, had been locked in a never-ending battle to destroy each other. Tom killed Harry, Harry returned and killed Tom, Tom returned and the cycle continued. Finally, sometime in what they believed was the late 24th century, Harry had Tom pinned and was about to behead him (for the twelfth time), when he dropped the sword he held and said, "Forget it. It's all so pointless." He helped Tom stand and they sat at a nearby broken table and talked.

Somewhere in the mass of deaths and rejuvenations, Harry and Tom, either on purpose or accidentally, had wiped out the rest of humanity and destroyed most of civilization's remnants. Tom would freely admit he'd done the lion's share of the destruction, but Harry had wiped out more than a few Dark cults and other followers of Voldemort.

Neither one of them was sure who was responsible for the radioactive crater that was once New York City, however.

Having concluded that, in effect, neither of them could die, even when they tried coordinating their Killing Curses to kill each other simultaneously, they had struck up a relationship based less on friendship and more on a need to hear another human voice.

"The Prophecy?"

"You remember- _The One with the Power to Vanquish the Dark Lord approaches- _that mumbo jumbo that sent you after little baby-me?"

Tom chuckled, "If I had known then what I later learned about Sybil Trelawney, I'd have tortured Severus into insanity for wasting my time and forgotten it. That was the problem right there."

"Exactly! You remember my quantum theory experiment?"

While neither was exceptionally brilliant, especially in the sciences, hundreds of years and immortality meant a lot could be learned through otherwise deadly trial-and-error.

"I think I can send us back and undo this whole mess."

"Back?"

"In time."

Tom stared openly at Harry.

"The catch is, I have to send us both back. And it has to be before you attacked me and linked us. Or this whole mess starts up again."

"How will we return?"

"Mind only. Our younger selves will gain all our knowledge, experience, everything- except the link between us. That means I'll be stuck in my squalling infant self. I'm going to have to count on you to do the right thing here, Tom."

A mirthless smirk crossed Tom's face. "And if I start this whole mess up again?"

"Then we're right back where we started. I hope you realize how pointless immortality on a dead husk of a planet would be."

Tom pursed his lips in thought, "Point taken."

Harry removed a small black device from his pocket and set it in the middle of the table.

"What's our destination time?"

"October 30, 1981- the day before the attack."

Tom reached out and touched the device- Harry's hand had never left it- and said, "What have we got to lose?"

Harry smirked and replied, "See you on the flip side."

A brilliant flash of rainbow light heralded the disappearance of the last two men on Earth.

END?

STORY UP FOR ADOPTION/CHALLENGE! WHAT DIRECTION DO HARRY AND TOM GO IN FROM HERE? HOW WILL THEY ALTER HISTORY? WILL THEY SUCCEED IN ALTERING DESTINY? WILL THEY SCREW UP AND END UP BACK WHERE THEY STARTED? YOU DECIDE!


End file.
